Judgment Day
by BlaiddDrwg30
Summary: The Doctor intercepts a wayward distress call from Earth and Rebecca is discomforted when she learns that it is from her old hometown. The Doctor, Rose, and Rebecca investigate and get caught up in a battle involving the Judoon and an escaped war criminal. Meanwhile, Rebecca puts some demons from her past to rest.
1. Chapter 1

The Doctor rubbed his chin bewilderedly. "Now that's odd."

Rebecca looked up from the book she was reading. "What is?"

He stared at the Tardis monitor, apparently lost in thought.

She sighed and went back to her book.

He slammed his hand against the console, the loud bang causing her to jump up in alarm and drop the book to the floor.

"Never a dull moment around here," Rose exclaimed as she walked down the steps into the room. She picked up Rebecca's book and handed it to her with a smile. "You okay?"

Rebecca laughed. "Yeah, just startled me is all." She scooted over on the bench and Rose sat down next to her. She threw one of her legs over Rebecca's thigh and the dark haired girl smiled at her indulgently.

"A distress signal just came through," the Doctor said without looking up. "Rather suddenly, as a matter of fact."

"Where's it coming from? Rose asked.

His brow furrowed in concentration. "Actually, it's coming from Becks old neck of the woods."

Rebecca looked up. "It is?"

He pressed a few buttons, then looked back up at the screen. "Someplace about an hour or so from where we picked you up. Hamilton? Does that area sound familiar?"

When she didn't answer right away he turned around to glance at her, and was startled to see that she had turned frightfully pale. Her lips were compressed into a thin line and he could see her knuckles turning white as they clenched the side of the armrest.

"You okay?" Rose asked worriedly.

Rebecca cleared her throat. "Yes, I'm fine. I...in fact I grew up near there. My family still lives in that area."

"That's great," Rose said cheerily. "Maybe we can pop in on them when we go to check out the signal." She turned to the Doctor. "Are we going to investigate it?"

The Doctor continued to keep his eyes on Rebecca, who had gotten some of her color back but was now rubbing her forehead as if to dispel a headache. Something had obviously jolted her, and it didn't take a genius to see that it had to do with visiting her old hometown. He was worried about her. Still, he couldn't just ignore a distress call, especially one that was as encrypted and enigmatic as this one was. He would just have to keep a closer eye on her in this instance, make sure she was okay. He turned back to the controls and started adjusting the coordinates. "Yes, we certainly are. The signal came via an encrypted code, it wasn't specifically seeking the Tardis, we just happened to intercept it. Don't know if it's a friend or foe, so it should be pretty exciting to check it out, eh?"

"Yeah," Rebecca said quietly, "Exciting."

Later on, after Rebecca had gone to bed, Rose leaned against the railing watching the Doctor fix some wiring that had burnt out she asked, "has she said anything at all to you about her family?"

"Who?" the Doctor asked as he used the sonic screwdriver to melt a fused terminal.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Who do you think? Rebecca of course!"

His brow furrowed in concentration. "No. Can't say that she has."

"Don't you think that's strange? What if they're dead? I mean, having one parent dead is hard enough, but what if they're both gone? That's really sad, don't you think? Should we ask her?"

The Doctor stopped what he was doing and looked at her seriously. "Usually people's family comes up in conversation, yeah? Well, since she HASN'T brought them up, don't you think that means she doesn't want to talk about it?"

Rose bit her lip. "But we're her friends. I want her to know she can trust us."

He smiled. "Nothing says trust like hopping into a big blue time traveling box with a couple of strangers, eh? Don't think you need to worry about that. She trusts us."

Rose smiled at him.

"Ah well," he said as he turned back to his work. "It's probably not a big deal anyway. Her family situation, I mean. Not everyone likes to prattle on about their relatives like you do."

"Hey!" Rose exclaimed, smacking him lightly on the arm.

The Doctor passed by Rebecca's room on his way to bed. The door was closed, which was slightly unusual in an of itself, since for the most part she usually kept it open most of the time. He paused at her door. As much as he wanted to help her get through whatever she was feeling, he also didn't want to be too intrusive to her privacy, which was mostly why he advised Rose not to bring it up to her. But he still felt compelled to make sure she was alright. She was his companion, and he cared for her, for both her _and _Rose. And the thought of her being in any kind of distress hurt his hearts. He knocked softly on her door.

A moment later she answered, "Doctor?"

He smiled, even though she couldn't see it. "How did you know it was me?"

He heard a muffled laugh. "Because Rose doesn't knock, she just barges right in."

He chuckled. "So true. Very adamant, our Rose. I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

There was a pause and then the sound of sheets rustling. He assumed she was coming to the door. "I'm okay," she replied.

"Okay," he said, knowing she probably wasn't, but unsure of what else he could do for her at that moment. "Have a good night, Becks."

"You too Doctor."

He laid his hand and forehead against the door, wishing he could help her. After a few minutes he sighed softly and walked away.

Rebecca stood with her back against the opposite side of the same door, with her eyes closed, wishing she had enough inner strength to ask her friends for help.

~*~To be continued


	2. Chapter 2

For the first time since joining Rose and the Doctor, Rebecca felt a permeating sense of hollow dread when the Tardis doors opened. The usual sense of wonder and excitement hovered slightly in the background of her emotions but was overlaid with a dull terror. She was going home again. Or, at least, close enough to home to cause the same type of reaction. She had thought, for a split second or less, of admitting her uneasiness to the Doctor and asking if they could just pass this one up. Just this one time. For her. But she had seen how intrigued he was by the signal he had intercepted and she was reluctant to bring her misgivings to light. So she decided to tuck her feelings away, she was good at that after all, and make the best of the situation. And while she could tell that Rose didn't notice that anything was wrong, she was pretty sure the Doctor could see right through her.

The Tardis landed with the familiar wheezing, groaning sound on the corner of a long and narrow street. The Doctor opened the doors and stepped out into the late afternoon atmosphere, followed by a hesitant looking Rebecca.

The Doctor peered down the street "Recognize anything?" he asked Rebecca.

She looked around warily. It seemed familiar, but not so much that it set any alarm bells off in her head. Which was a good thing, in her opinion. The area looked like any other street where she had grown up. A typical little New Jersey town. "It is a bit familiar," she hedged. "Where exactly are we again?"

He held up a small colorful device with a crooked antenna. Heaven only knew where it came from. He pressed a button and spun a few dials before announcing, "Apparently we're in Trenton. The signal we picked up in the Tardis was emitted from only a few blocks away from this spot." He glanced over at Rebecca. "Do you know this place.?"

She nodded. "I grew up about twenty miles from here."

Rose pointed at the contraption in the Doctor's hand with lurid fascination. "Doctor, what on Earth **IS** that?"  
He let out a laugh. "Ha! You mean what on not Earth is that?"

She smiled and shrugged at him. "Same difference."

He gave it a little shake. "This happens to be a machine I created. It 'dings' when it gets close to any signal I have it locked on to. It can also turn rocks into caramels." He wrinkled his nose and glanced at the device. "Pretty unusual side effect, that."

He twirled another dial and held the machine up above his head, pointing the crooked antenna to the sky. The three of them waited in silence for a few months before...

It dinged.

Letting out a triumphant laugh the Doctor yelled out, "See? We're on the right track!" He marched down the street followed by Rose and Rebecca, who were trying to look less amused than they really were.

The sky was tinged purple and pink in the early morning. A few moths spun lazily in the air like tiny minuaturized ghosts. Rebecca took a deep breath, letting the familiar air of her childhood fill her lungs for the first time in months. _I'm a better person now,_ she thought confidently. _I'm stronger. What other people do or say or even think about me doesn't matter anymore._

Suddenly her phone rang.

The sound cut through her newfound confidence harshly like the shattering of glass. It felt like all the positive emotions that had just moments ago been flowing through her was seeping out of her from ever pore, deflating her mood right along with it. She knew who was calling.

The others turned around, noticing she had stopped in her tracks.

"Is that your phone?" Rose asked.

"Yeah," Rebecca replied as she pulled it out of her pocket.

"I don't think I've ever heard it ring before!" Rose mused. All this time we've been traveling together, and I don't think I've heard it go off once!"

"That's because I never altered it," the Doctor said.

The two girls looked at him.

"With the screwdriver," he continued. "I never altered the frequency with my sonic like I did with yours, Rose. We've been out of the signal range since we picked Becks up."

"Well, why didn't you alter it?" Rose asked. She looked from the Doctor back to Rebecca. "You knew he did it to my phone."

"Because she never asked me to," the Doctor said softly.

Rebecca looked up and met the Doctor's eyes and the gentle understanding in them let her know, for the first time, that he understood what it meant to want to run away. To flee from your past and keep on moving forward until it couldn't hurt you any longer. She felt a rush of gratitude toward him, this wonderful man who knew and understood so much.

The phone kept ringing.

Rose raised her eyebrow to her as if to ask, _'Well are you going to answer that or not?'_

She sighed and put the phone receiver to her ear and said, "Hello Mom."

She walked away to converse privately while Rose and the Doctor looked on.

"Is she okay?" Rose asked him quietly.

"Not right now she isn't." He glanced over at Rose and smiled. "But she will be."

She reached over and held his hand, both of them watching their friend with loving concern.

Rebecca paced the sidewalk while trying to end the conversation with her mother as quickly as possible, before the knot in here stomach grew so hard it would be permanently lodged there. She was being berated for not calling sooner, berated for her general alck of consideration for the rest of her family, and why couldn't she be more like her sister? Rebecca bit her lip and endured the tirade, knowing that it was better to just let her go rather than try to interject and defend herself. It wouldn't matter anyway. It wasn't as if she would believe her. When she told her that she had been traveling with a few friends her mother switched gears so fast it was enough to make Rebecca's head spin. Since she was in town, wouldn't she come up for dinner? It would give them time to catch up. It sounded nice, in theory anyway, but Rebecca knew better. As much as she might wish otherwise, this was nothing more than a ploy on her mothers part to dig out bits of information that could be later used against her daughter. She had been through this before. She bit back an almost hysterical laugh at the thought of explaining to her mother all the places she had seen while traveling with the Doctor.

She glanced up and saw the others looking at her.

Rose gave a small wave and an encouraging smile. The Doctor nodded to her.

She felt a trickle of bravery fill her up again. She could do this. "Sure mom," she said into the phone. "I'll be there."

She hung up and walked back over to her friends. "I have to go to dinner tonight," she said. "At my parents."

"What time do we have to be there?" Rose asked.

"Wait..." Rebecca asked. "We?

"Of course."'' Rose leaned over and tucked a tendril if hair behind Rebecca's ear. "What did you think, we were going to drop you off and leave you there on your own?"

_I've been alone my whole life,_ Rebecca thought desperately as tears of gratefulness sprang to her eyes. "I'd like that very much. Thank you guys."

Rose patted the Doctor's arm. "Even the Doctor's coming along, and he's absolute rubbish at family functions. He hates them! Don't you Doctor?"

He looked uncomfortable. "I never said I hated them...did I?"

"Oh yes," Rose said as Rebecca nodded. "Multiple times."

"I don't hate family functions," he said. "Weeeell hate is a strong word after all, although maybe not strong enough in some cases." The last part he said under his breath. "Still, you know what they say about home and family."

"What?" asked Rose.

He looked right at Rebecca. "Home is where the heart is."

He shook his machine. "Well, we better get going if we have a dinner date to get to. Let's see if we can find out what send that signal and why. That **IS** why we came here after all, if you two would recall."

He turned on his heel and continued down the street followed by a laughing Rose and a contemplative Rebecca.  
_Yes_, she thought happily. _It's time to stop running away._

_~*~ _To be continued


	3. Chapter 3

Rose and Rebecca followed the Doctor as he led them through the more derelict part of town. The streets were wider and there were significatly less people milling about, despite the mildness of the afternoon, which made things seem all the more eerie. The Doctor's machine began to ding more frequently the further into town they got. When the pauses between dings stopped altogether, the Doctor let out a triumphant 'whoop' before taking off at a run. Rebecca looked at Rose, who shrugged, as they both took off after him.

Rebecca still wasn't quite sure how she felt about all of this. The three of them usually had adventures throughout space and time, and sometimes they DID end up on Earth but usually not in the present. Not so...close to where she grew up and had spent much of her life. Where her past lingered and threatened to spill over and posion everything. And yet, being here with the Doctor and Rose, almost somehow made her feel a bit calmer about the whole thing. If someone had asked her a week ago how she would feel about her companions joining her on a trip back to her old hometown she would have probably had a panic attack right on the spot. She would have rather faced an army of Daleks than one imminent dinner at her parents house. As it was however, now that it was actually happening, she couldn't help but feel as if it had been meant to happen. It was as if the prescence of the Doctor and Rose made her feel stronger, ready to handle anything. She had originally hoped, when joining up with the two wanderers, that her recent past and present would never collide. She feared that it could destroy her newfound peace and confidence; everything she had worked so hard to create for herself.

_But_, she thought, _maybe things won't be all that bad_. _Maybe the three of us together can do what I alone could not_. The wind rustled her hair, blowing it and tangling it wildly behind her like a curtain. _Break free_, it seemed to say to her. _Stand up darling, and break free_.

They ran down a few crooked alleyways and side roads until they found themselves at a warehouse along the Delaware river waterfront. They slowed down as they got closer to it. It was obvious that it hadn't been in use for some time. A lot of the windows were blackened with soot or dirt, and some were broken. The grass on the property was overgrown and blew forlornly in the wind.

The Doctor's machine was going crazy.

As it continued to ping, smoke began to pour out of the top of it. The Doctor dropped it onto the gravel with an astonished yelp. The three of them stood around it, watching as it caught on fire and burned itself to a crisp in less than a minute.

"End of the line for that one, then," said Rebecca.

"Must be inside the warehouse, whatever triggered that strong of a signal," said Rose.

"No more rocks being turned into caramels," the Doctor said mournfully.

They walked up to the door in the front of the building and, finding it locked, used the sonic scredriver to gain entry.

The warehouse was crumbling and smelled of mold and stagnancy, and other things better left unsaid. Old papers rustled damply benath their feet as they walked through the vast emptiness of the abandoned building. Light filtered in weakly from the broken windows. Aside from that, the only other light to see by was the soft blue glow from the tip of the Doctor's screwdriver.

A loud thud resounded throughout the seemingly empty building, drawing the attention of the three travelers to the other side of the vast room. The Doctor led them, grim faced and determined, toward the noise until they reached the far side of the room and saw a hunched over figure sitting against the wall. As they got closer, the Doctor threw his hand out to stop Rose and Rebecca from getting any closer.

"Stay back!" he hised at them both.

"Why?" Rose whispered. "Who is it? WHAT is it?"

"That's one of the most dangerous and aggressive creatures in the Universe," he said. "That is a Sontaran."

"Excuse me, sir," the creature said as it stumbled to its feet. It was a little over half of the Doctor's height, it's stature clearly stunted by its lack of neck. With his roundish features and brown complextion, he had the appearance of a walking and talking potato. "I am Sontaran no more," it continued. "I have defected."

Rebecca had never before seen the Doctor look so completely astonished.

...

"Defected?" He asked incredulously. "Sontaran's don't **DEFECT**. They're warriors, born and bred."

"Um?" Rose piped up. "Can someone please tell me what a Sontaran is?"

Rebecca nodded in agreement, equally befuddled.

Before the Doctor could reply, the creature spoke up. "Madame," it said with a slight bow. "Allow me to answer."

The Doctor nodded and said, "I'm the Doctor, by the way, and this is Rose and Rebecca." He folded his arms across his chest expectantly, waiting for the Sontaran's response.

"Sontarans are not born, we are **MADE**. I was created in a facilty on the planet Sontar."

"The Sontaraans are a clone race," the Doctor explained to his companions. "They are created to be nameless, aggressive fighters."

The Sontaraan nodded. "I was never given a name, only a number, so I gave myself a name." He looked up at them proudly. "I call myself Maxx."

The Doctor grinned. "That's brilliant! Really brilliant! Love that name, Maxx."

"He doesn't really act like a super hostile warrior," Rose remarked.

The Doctor waved his sonic screwdriver across Maxx's torso and then studied the result. After a moment of silence he exclaimed excitedly, "Aberant DNA! He's got aberant DNA in his system. A mutation!"

Maxx sniffed. "Well you don't have to say it so RUDELY Sir."

"So," said Rebecca, because his DNA is mutated he's different than the other Sontarans?"

"Absolutely!" The Doctor said gleefully. "He's something brand new! A different, new, and dare I say BETTER Sontaran than anything I've ever encountered!"

"I wouldn't say better, Sir," Maxx said sadly. I hid my true nature for as long as I could, but when the others discovered what I was, they attempted to annhilate me."

The smile fell from the Doctor's face as Rose gasped and Rebecca put her hand over her mouth in shock.

"They..." Rose started, "They tried to kill you? Your own people?"

He nodded matter of factly. "Well, of course. We are Sontarans. The only thing they desire is blood and war. When they learned that I was...NOT like them, well." His lumpy face broke out in a grin. "Let us just say they were far from pleased."

"So what did you do?" Rebecca asked.

"I stole a starship and escaped here. What else could I do!? To stay would have meant my death. I had no choice but to flee!"

"And now you've come here and a Sontaraan fleet is right on your heels, is that right?" The Doctor asked grimly.

Maxx held up a hand. "I sent out that distress signal hoping some friendly life form would help me, but I'm afraid it's quite worse than that, Doctor," he said. "They didn't come themselves, they've called in the Judoon."

The Doctor sighed.

"What are the Judoon?" Rebecca whispered to Rose.

"They're like a sort of intergaltic police," she whispered back. "Only a bit tougher and meaner."

"They will tear this planet apart looking for you," the Doctor said. "And they won't care who gets caught in the process." His eyes softened. "What is it you want, Maxx?"

"I don't want anyone to get hurt," the gentle Sontarran said. "I just want...freedom. I want to live my life in peace. Is that so much to ask?"

"Not at all," sniffed Rose.

The Doctor looked pensive for a moment before a smile broke out on his face. "No, Maxx. It is certainly NOT too much to ask! We are going to get you out of here."

"But Doctor," Rebecca asked tentatively. "Even if we help him leave Earth, won't the Judoon just track him down again?"

"Not if we take him somewhere out of their jurisdiction!"

"And you know a place like that?" asked Rose suspiciously.

"Well, no, not exactly," he admitted. "But the Tardis would. All I have to do is check her databanks and see what she comes up with."

"Ah, Doctor?" Maxx asked "How do you propose to get me to this...Tardis?"

"We could go back and get it and then land her right here in the warehouse, right?" Rebecca asked.

"It took us ages to get here," the Doctor mused. "I don't think we have that kind of time. Unless..."

"Unless?" Rebecca, Rose, and Maxx echoed.

"Unless you two stay here with Maxx and I leave to get the Tardis, leaving them a false trail."

Maxx said, "Well Doctor I suppose that would work... but how will you lead them away from me? They have DNA trackers."

The Doctor pointed at the Sontaran. "Why Maxx! You've worked up quite a bit of a sweat, haven't you!"

Maxx sputtered, "Well of course I have Doctor, and you would too if you were in desperate fear for your life!"

The Doctor sprinted over to him and began rubbing his hair all over Maxx's face.

The girls erupted into laughter at the sight of the tall and lanky Doctor bent over as the Sontaran tried to push him away in protest.

"DNA!" The Doctor exclaimed. "My hair is covered with Maxx's trace DNA, which will lead the Judoon to me instead of him, giving you guys some time to stay hidden and me time to reach the Tardis and bring her back here."

"But Doctor, " Rose pointed out "What if they get to you before you get to the Tardis?"

"That's a risk we'll have to take, isn't it." He sprinted to the door. "Stay safe, I'll be back as soon as I can."

Without so much as a goodbye, he left, the front door slam sounding especially loud with his absence. The two girls and one Sontaran looked at each other in silence for a few moments, trying to figure out how to formulate an interesting conversation between two very different species.

"May I interest you ladies in a game of canasta?" Maxx asked politely.

...

About an hour later they heard the familiar wheezing groaning noise of the Tardis, causing Rose and Rebecca to leap up in happily. The Tardis materialized a few feet from where they had been sitting, leaving Maxx to gaze at the bright blue box with awe and amazement.

"It's okay, buddy," Rebecca said amiably as she patted his shoulder. "I felt the same way when I saw it for the firs time."

The Doctor popped out, looking none the worse for wear. "Those Judoon were no match for me!"

"Then why is your tie all...burnt?" Rose asked.

"Ah, yes, well..." he touched it and it flaked into ashy crisps. "You know how those Judoon are. Love their blasters, they do! So come on aboard everyone! Don't want to still be around here when they finally catch up. Hey!" He cried out as they were getting aboard the Tardis. "Were you guys playing Canasta?! Love that game! I was the one who helped invent it, you know!"

"Of course you were, Doctor," Rose said, patting his arm and closing the door behind them.

...

"Do you think Maxx will be alright, Doctor?" asked Rebecca thoughtfully. They had just left the joyfully weeping Sontaran on a planet and were speeding away again.

"Oh yes." he replied confidently. "According to the Tardis, Celestia Prism is waaaay beyond the jurisdiction of the Judoon, so he should be able to make a new life for himself quite easily, expect."

"Do you ever think we'll see him again?" Rose asked wistfully. "I rather liked him!"

He shrugged. "Hard to say. Never know who you're going to run into while traveling the way we do. I mean look at us! Never in a million years would I have expected to run into you lot. And now I'm stuck with you. Or...stuck with me, however you want to think of it."

The girls grinned at him.

"Well," he said standing up. "I suppose I should go get cleaned up if I want to not properly reek of Sontaran sweat before dinner."

"Ah...what?" Rebecca asked.

He turned to her in surprise. "Did you think I had forgotten? We have a dinner date with your folks, don't we?"

Rebecca groaned and laid her head on Rose's shoulder. She had been completely counting on the Doctor to forget about that one little detail.

~*~To be continued


	4. Chapter 4

Despite the calming mantra that Rebecca kept telling herself, assuring herself it would be all right, in the long run only soothed her nerves for a moment or two but did nothing to improve the situation.

It was bad. A lot worse than she had expected.

Sure it started out okay. Her parents were artificially interested in her newfound friends, but didn't ask too many questions since it was obvious that they really didn't care. What they DID care about was degrading their daughter and infusing her with as much guilt as they could within a few hours time.

"So, Rebecca." Her father began. "I hear you quit your job. What are your plans now?"

She cleared her throat. "Well, I am going to be doing a bit of traveling, you know? With Doctor Smith and Rose." She looked over to them for assurance and they both smiled and nodded to her encouragingly.

"Traveling?" he yelled? "What can you possibly expect to contribute to the world by traveling? Are you going to be some kind of hobo then?"

Rose snorted into her drink.

Rebecca tried again. "No, Dad. I'm not going to be a hobo. I have a great place to stay, and anyway..." she took a deep breath. "I'm going to take this time to work on a novel. It's what I always wanted to do, and now I have a great opportunity to do so."

"Oh Becks!" Rose exclaimed happily. "You never told me! How wonderful!"

Rebecca's parents quite obviously didn't agree.

Her mother sniffed. "What a waste of a life."

The Doctor leaned forward. "Excuse me?"

She sneered. "Writing books. What useless drivel. She could be making herself useful and instead she insists on wasting her time." She gestured to a picture on the mantle. "Now take her sister, Jessica. She's training to become a nurse. She's going to make a difference in the world, exactly as Jesus would have wanted. That's who Rebecca should be modeling her life after."

The Doctor looked confused. "Nursing is a fantastic profession, but it's surely not the only way to help people. Many people are touched and moved by the words of others. It can give them hope when they feel lost, can give them something to believe in. And isn't the main point that Rebecca will be doing something that makes her happy?

Her father laughed condescendly. "Happiness has nothing to do with it. If she wants to make the most out of her life, she needs to get a steady job, get married, buy a house, have kids."

The Doctor wrinkled his nose. "Seems a bit narrow-minded don't you think? What if none of those things would make your daughter happy?"

Her father shrugged. "We weren't put on this Earth to be happy."

Rebecca felt the blood rushing to her head with shame. Why did she even tell them about her dreams of writing and publishing? She should have known they wouldn't care. She thought she was going to be sick. She excused herself to the bathroom and laid her head against the cool glass of the mirror until she could get a better control of her emotions. It never changed. She didn't even know why she kept trying to make them understand her, why she still craved their approval. It was obvious that they didn't know who she was, not really.

Rose followed her to the bathroom and watched her silent struggle in the doorway. It was strange to realize it, and all at once. Despite having grown up in a home with a mother with whom she was close, it suddenly became quite obvious to her that Rebecca had been starved for kind words her whole life.

"It hurts you, being here, being near them," Rose said to her softly. "I'm sorry I didn't see before that it hurts you."

Rebecca waved away her concern away. "Just old wounds," she said nonchalantly as she ran her hands down Rose's arms, lacing their fingers together. "They don't bleed like they used to."

_But they would seep and trickle from time to time_, Rose thought sadly as she watched the girl she had come to care so much for struggle to keep up a tough face. A façade against all the pain she must be feeling; must have felt for a long time. Even though Rebecca had told her that her parents had never raised a hand against her, Rose knew that there were other ways to pummel a child. And those sort of emotional bruises lasted longer and did more damage than physical ones.

When they walked back they found the Doctor standing up, his hands in his pockets and looking almost apoplectic with controlled anger.

"Doctor Smith?" Rebecca's mother asked. "Do please sit down, we haven't even had coffee yet."

"No," he said gently but firmly. "But I find I have lost my appetite. It's time we were going." He looked over at Rebecca and asked, "Are you ready."

She nodded so hard she thought her head would fall off.

Without so much as a goodbye, he walked over and took Rose and Rebecca each by the hand, despite the outraged gasps of Rebecca's parents.

As they walked out the front door the Doctor turned back to her parents, still sitting at the dinner table and staring at them. "By the way," he said coldly. "Your daughter is one of the brightest, kindest, and beautiful people I have ever had the honor of knowing. And you know what else?" He smiled at them. "You don't deserve her."

He let the door slam on the way out.

...

They had parked the Tardis a block away, and their walk back was a silent one.

A tremendous crescendo of emotions were roiling throughout Rebecca's heart, so painful and full of guilt, she finally had to sit down on the curb, her head in her hands.

Rose sat down next to her, not saying a word. The Doctor walked around and stood in front of them.

"Becks," the Doctor said quietly. "You never have to see them again, if you don't want to. Once we leave here, we don't ever have to come back."

"My mother is a religious fanatic," she said morosely. "Has been for as long as I can remember. My dad is a mean, conniving, manipulative bastard who was never pleased by anything I did." She closed her eyes. "Both of them think I'm utter rubbish. And the question in my mind, most prominently in my mind at this moment, is why you would want to take on someone who comes from that?"

Rose laid her head on Rebecca's shoulder, putting an arm around her, and she was comforted by her warm presence.

The Doctor crouched down, so he was eye level with her. "You already know the answer. And if love isn't enough, we'll add sense. Those things they said about you...just because they're your parents and they said it doesn't automatically make it true. You aren't your parents any more than Rose is hers." He smiled slightly. "Or any more than I'm mine, for that matter. We are not merely a sum of our parts. Look at Maxx, for example. Just because he was bred to be a super-aggressive and highly violent warrier didn't mean that was absolutely what he was destined to be." He took her hands in his. "There ARE no absolutes. Only choices. The life the three of us have begun together and continue to build together is our own, and no one else's."

"I should walk away from you both, for your own good," Rebecca said. "The would be the sensible thing, I suppose." She sighed. "But I won't. I don't think I could, even if I wanted to. I love you both too much for that. And I want so much what we have together. So I guess I won't do the courageous thing and walk away."

Rose snorted. "Becks, you wouldn't get two feet before we stopped you."

Rebecca let out a breathless laugh. "Don't I know it."

The Doctor smiled as he stood up, holding out a hand to each of them. "C'mon," he said gaily, gesturing to the blue box ahead of them. "Let's go home."

~*~Finis


End file.
